Lobsters and Surveillance
Happy Holidays from Government Inc.
Please take time to prepare yourself for another year of contracting, fraud, waste and abuse. And please, dear readers, don't be shy of sending documents and thoughts my way.
By the way, here's a story from Government Computer News that is just plain intriguing.
"The Homeland Security Department is sponsoring the development of new Lobster Eye sensors that mimic the unique capabilities of their namesake crustaceans in detecting images through wood, concrete and steel.
"The handheld Lobster Eye X-ray Imaging Devices (LEXIDs) can detect and identity humans and contraband in hidden compartments and through walls of various thicknesses and materials, according to DHS' Science and Technology Directorate."
Jim Apple, a business development director at Physical Optics Corp., the Torrance, Calif., company that makes the technology, says it's "still very developmental, but it has some tremendous potential."
No doubt. It's also a reminder that the Department of Homeland Security is still spending a lot of money on surveillance gear and data and all the rest.
More on the security-industrial complex before long.
A dear reader abroad notes that the British press has also picked up on the Lobster vision (it sounds almost poetic, said a certain way). Here's the link:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/30/dhs_lobster_xray_scanners/
By Robert O'Harrow |
December 27, 2007; 6:51 AM ET
homeland security
Previous: Contracts, Campaigns and Money |
Next: You Can Help
Posted by: Edwin Constant | December 28, 2007 6:13 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
It took the US press a little bit of time to pick this story up (USA Today was the first on this side of the Atlantic, I do believe), but if you'd like the inspiration of the Government Computer Week story go to the UK's The Register. After dealing with the author's unique prose, I thought it to be another British farce - I thought they were having a laugh at US DHS. But lo and behold the US government tech trades got wind and here we are on Mr. O'Harrow's blog. Cheers - spread the wealth of information!